This Fashion House Has Spectras in It
by TheLovelyHolly
Summary: Strange things are happening at Spectra Fashions and to the people in it and closely associated with it. Who is behind this and why? (No Spectras were harmed in the writing of this story.)
1. Chapter 1

_Summary- Strange things are happening at Spectra. Who is behind it and why?_

 _Disclaimer- I don't own the characters or the settings. I only own the plot._

 _A/N- I only have about half an idea where I'm going with this, but i'll try to update as often as possible._

B&B

Sally Spectra sat at her desk, scrolling through her phone. It was pretty quiet in the building except for the creepypasta narration playing on her laptop. She loved listening to scary stories about carnies because it reminded her of her parents, and her Aunt Sally, who was a closet horror junkie.

There was a knock at the door, interrupting her thoughts. "Yes?" She called, pausing the video.

Saul walked in and went straight to the scanner on the wall. "I noticed the fabric was a little disorganized last night, so I'll be in the storage room for a while." He said, after scanning his ID badge to clock in.

Sally looked at the clock. He was ten minutes early, as usual. "Well, Grams is out getting breakfast for everyone, so make sure you take a break for that." She told him.

"Just let me know when." Saul said, as he headed out the door and down the elevator to the storage room.

When he got there, he pulled all the fabrics off the shelves and piled them up in the middle of the room. Then, he began sorting through the pile, starting with the neutral colored cotton fabrics.

Back in the main office, Sally had switched to a different creepypasta video and was now drawing in one of Coco's sketchbooks. Maybe drawing would help her figure out what to do about the pictures from the wedding.

Shirley had chewed her out when she'd returned from Australia and said she wasn't going to post the pictures. She'd laid a guilt trip on her, saying that if the business failed, Aunt Sally would be heartbroken and it would be all Sally's fault.

Sally wanted nothing more than to make her aunt proud, she just wished there was a better way.

Meanwhile, in the parking lot, Shirley Spectra drove up and parked in her usual parking space. The one that was one space over from where Sally parked. The space in between them always remained empty. It had belonged to the original Sally Spectra and only she would ever be allowed to park there. CJ had even put a reserved sign in front of it, complete with pink and purple rhinestones, Sally's favorite colors.

She stepped out of her car and opened the passenger door, pulling out a big box of donuts and balancing four cups of coffee on top. She pushed the door closed with her foot and slowly walked toward the building, careful not to drop the breakfast.

Darlita walked quickly across the parking lot and held the door open for Shirley. She was late as usual.

"Thanks, I was really struggling with that." Shirley said.

"No problem." Darlita said, taking the cups so Shirley could call the elevator without fear of spilling everything.

When they got to Sally's office, they set the food down on the table by the door and Darlita handed Sally the cup with her name on it.

"Saul, breakfast is here." Sally called over the intercom.

In the storage room, Saul dropped what he was doing and walked quickly to the elevator.

"Sally, you were up before me; did you happen to see Coco before she left?" Shirley asked, taking the cup with her name on it and grabbing a couple of donuts.

"Yes I did." Sally said, taking the donut her grandmother offered her.

"Was she wearing the jewelry?" Shirley asked.

"Yes." Sally said, rolling her eyes.

"Good, why don't you go ahead and pull up the camera feed." Shirley suggested.

The look in her eyes told Sally that it wasn't just a suggestion, it was an order.

Sally only nodded and did as she was told.

Saul walked in and grabbed a donut and the remaining cup from the table. "They spelled my name wrong." He said, looking at the cup.

"Mine too." Shirley said.

"Same here." Sally said, but she was looking at her laptop, perplexed.

"Really? They got mine right." Darlita said, staring at her cup.

"Didn't CJ use to own that coffee shop?" Sally asked.

"Yeah, but I don't know who owns it now; do you have that camera feed pulled up yet?" Shirley asked.

"I've got it, but..." Sally started, a little nervous.

"Well, move over and let me see." Shirley said, pushing Sally out of the way.

On the screen, all that could be seen was Coco's hands on the steering wheel. It looked like she was driving.

"What is she doing? She should have been there a half hour ago." Shirley snapped.

"Grams, maybe they asked her to go get something for them." Sally suggested, in an attempt to keep Shirley from getting angry. She hated her grandmother's temper. Sometimes, it frightened her.

"Just our luck that we'd pull it up right when nothing good is happening." Shirley said.

On the screen, the parking lot of Forrester Creations came into view.

"Looks like she's there now." Darlita said, pointing to the front door of the building as the camera approached it.

Just as Coco's hand was on the door handle, the screen filled with static and a loud buzzing sound came from the laptop's speakers.

"What's happening?" Sally asked.

Saul joined everyone behind Sally's desk. "It looks like something or someone is interfering with the camera's signal." He said, examining the screen.

"Do you think they know what we're doing and made her destroy it?" Sally asked.

"How could they, unless someone tipped them off?" Shirley asked, glaring at Sally.

"I swear I didn't say anything, Grams." Sally said defensively.

Suddenly, the screen changed again and a picture of a house popped up. It looked like someone had taken the picture from a distance. Like they didn't want the resident to know that they were being photographed.

Shirley gasped as she recognized the house. It was a beach house in the Tropics. The one her sister was currently living in.


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N- I don't feel like I need to put the summary and the disclaimer in every chapter, ya'll already know that the only thing I own is the plot. I'm just putting this note here to say sorry for the gross out body horror in this chapter, but it is slightly important to the plot of the story._

B&B

Shirley sat down on the chair behind her. Someone had taken a picture of her sister's house and hacked into their camera to make sure they saw it. The video had restarted after the picture, which meant that the camera was now useless and someone else had control of the feed.

"That was Aunt Sally's house, I think we should call her." Sally said nervously.

"Do you really think whoever hacked the camera would want to hurt her?" Saul asked.

"I don't know, but that was really sketchy, I think she needs to know that something is going on." Sally said, picking up her phone.

"Maybe it's just a prank?" Darlita suggested.

"Darlita's right." Shirley said, after recovering from her momentary state of shock.

"I am?" Darlita asked, confused.

"It's probably just someone fooling around, there's no need to call Sally." Shirley said, getting up and walking over to the window.

"Who would go to the trouble of taking a picture of Aunt Sally's house and hacking our camera just for a prank; she doesn't exactly live nearby, you know." Sally said.

"Someone who knows about the camera and wants to stop us from succeeding." Shirley said, turning around to glare at Sally.

"What are you implying?" Sally asked defensively.

"Just that you've been opposed to the idea of borrowing from Forrester from the very beginning and now the camera isn't working." Shirley said.

"Ok, yes, I have a problem with using my little sister to steal designs, but that doesn't mean I'm going to sabotage my own company!" Sally snapped.

"I'm not saying you did it on purpose, maybe you let something slip while you were in Australia." Shirley said.

"I think I would know if I said something I shouldn't have, Grams." Sally said.

"Well, how else would someone find out about the camera?" Shirley asked.

"It doesn't matter, what matters is the fact that whoever has control of the feed knows where Aunt Sally lives and just sent us a really sketchy picture of her house; that has to mean something." Sally said. She was really getting tired of being accused of something she didn't do and she couldn't shake the feeling that her aunt may be in danger.

"Well, what are you going to tell her if you call her? That we put a camera on Coco to borrow Forrester designs, but someone hacked it and sent us a picture of her house? Yeah, that will go over well." Shirley said sarcastically.

"Maybe if I just told her to be careful..." Sally started.

"You're not calling her!" Shirley snapped.

Just then, Sally's phone rang with the ringtone she had set for her aunt. "Well, she's calling me and I'm going to answer it." Sally said.

"If you mention that camera, I will pull every dollar I have invested in this place." Shirley threatened.

"Hello?" Sally answered her phone.

"Hello, darling, how's my favorite niece?" asked Aunt Sally's deep voice on the other end.

"Everything's great, Saul and Darlita are great employees and Grams has been a big help in getting this place up and running." Sally lied through her teeth.

"Well, that's good, but I asked about _you_." Aunt Sally said.

"Oh, I'm fine, I've just been under a lot of stress." Sally replied.

"Don't worry, it does get a little easier once things pick up; and don't let my sister get to you, she has a habit of losing sight of what's really important, but she'll eventually learn her lesson." Aunt Sally said.

Sally looked over at Shirley, who shot her a warning glare. How did Aunt Sally know that Shirley was being a little harsher than usual? "It isn't that bad, but I'll remember that." She said.

"I grew up with her, darling, I know how harsh she can be sometimes." Aunt Sally said, sounding like she didn't believe what Sally had said for one minute.

"Yeah, anyway, Aunt Sally, how have you been?" Sally asked, trying to get the subject off of her grandmother.

"Oh, I've just been relaxing as usual." Aunt Sally said.

"Anything interesting happen lately?" Sally asked, hoping her aunt would say something that allowed her to let her know what was going on without mentioning the camera.

"Well, I did burn my arm making french fries the other day and now it's bandaged from wrist to shoulder, it was pretty disgusting; want me to send you a picture?" Aunt Sally asked.

Sally laughed. "I'm sure you're going to anyway, speaking of pictures, I heard some creeper is taking picture of people without their knowledge and no one knows what they're doing with them; I was wondering if you'd noticed anything unusual." She said, grateful for a reason to talk about what she really wanted her aunt to know.

"I haven't lately, where did you hear that?" Aunt Sally asked.

"Oh, just some video." Sally said, not technically lying.

"Well, it's sweet of you to worry about me, darling , but I'm sure I'll be fine; you forget I'm no longer wheelchair bound." Aunt Sally said with a laugh.

"Yeah, I'm sure you will, but could you...I mean...just be careful, ok." Sally said nervously.

"Don't worry, if it will make you feel better, I'll keep my eyes open for anything unusual and maybe you should do the same if you're that worried about it." Aunt Sally said.

"Sure." Sally said, feeling comforted by the fact that her aunt was at least aware of the situation without knowing about the camera.

"Great, well, I'll let you go, I really need to do my nails and I'm sure you have a lot to do too." Aunt Sally said.

"Yeah, I still have some important decisions to make, oh, and thanks for the advice." Sally said.

"Any time, darling, and if you ever need me, you know I'm always just a phone call away." Aunt Sally said warmly.

"Thanks, I'll remember that." Sally said, smiling. She hung up her phone as set it down on the desk.

"Do you feel better now? Scaring her over something that might be no big deal?" Shirley asked.

"She wasn't scared at all, Grams, in fact, she seemed more concerned about us." Sally said.

Sally's phone beeped on the desk, signaling a text.

"Gross!" Darlita exclaimed, looking at the picture that came up.

"Whoa, is that your aunt's arm?" Saul asked, horrified.

Sally picked up her phone and looked at the picture her aunt had sent her. It was her left arm with horrible second and third degree burns from her wrist to her shoulder. "Wow, she wasn't lying, that _is_ nasty." She said.

"Let me guess, she was cooking." Shirley said.

"Yeah, she was making french fries." Sally replied.

"She's always been a disaster in the kitchen and yet she continues to try; you get that from her." Shirley said.

Sally knew there was an insult in there somewhere, but she chose to ignore it. Instead, she sent a text to Aunt Sally.

 _Cool! LOL!_

"Ok, everyone, we need to get back to work." She said, after sending the text.

"But, what about the camera?" Shirley asked.

"Is it fixable?" Sally asked Saul.

"Not without finding out who has control of the feed." Saul said.

"There's your answer, until we can do that, we're not going to think about it." Sally told Shirley. "Now, back to work, everyone."

Saul went back to the storage room to finish sorting the fabric, Darlita went to her desk to file her nails, Sally sat down at her desk and turned her creepypasta video back on, and Shirley went to find something to do.

To an outsider, it would look like they had all just wrapped up a meeting and were going back to what they had been doing before, but the atmosphere in the building told a different story. The air was thick with tension and fear. Everyone, even Shirley, was still thinking about what had happened with the video and no one could shake the feeling that something was very wrong.


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N- Sorry it took me forever to update. Being sick, and helping to take care of my 4 year old niece who is also sick, and trying to appear not sick in public really took a lot out of me, so forgive me for needing a nap after church! LOL Anyway, here's chapter three! Enjoy!_

B&B

It was Saturday morning in the small apartment where the Spectras lived. Sally and Coco were already awake and making pancakes in the kitchen. An alternative rock song played on the radio on the counter.

Coco dropped a bag of flour, causing the white powder to go everywhere. They both laughed as they cleaned up the mess.

In the bathroom, Shirley was going through her morning beauty routine. She had always been obsessed with keeping her skin smooth. She refused to end up like her twin sister.

Even though the last time she'd seen Sally she hadn't looked a day older than she had when she'd left LA, she'd still had quite a few fine lines on her face caused by years of stress and a lifelong smoking habit. Shirley would rather have people believe she was years younger than Sally, even though she was only younger by three minutes.

Growing up, Sally had never let Shirley forget that she was three minutes older. Like being older somehow made Sally better than her. With that thought, she put on a little extra face cream. After that, she went to find her granddaughters.

"Whoa, what happened here?" She asked, finding the girls in the kitchen, covered in flour.

"We're making pancakes." Sally said.

"It looks more like you're making a mess." Shirley said.

"We had a bit of a mishap with the flour." Coco said with a laugh.

"Don't you mean _you_ had a mishap with the flour?" Sally teased.

"Anyway, the pancakes are ready, so help yourself, Grams." Coco said, gesturing to the pancakes on the counter.

Sally went into the pantry. "Oh no, we're out of syrup." She complained.

"Nice job making pancakes without checking to see if we had syrup." Shirley said sarcastically.

"I can go get some, it won't take long." Coco said, ignoring her grandmother's comment.

"Hurry back so the pancakes won't be cold." Sally said, picking her wallet up from the table and taking out some money for Coco.

Coco took the money and headed through the living room and out the front door.

"You should really learn to turn the stove off when you finish cooking, it's roasting my face." Shirley told Sally, moving away from the stove.

Sally looked at the stove. It wasn't on. "I _did_ turn it off." She said. Then she looked at her grandmother and gasped.

"Then why is my face burning?" Shirley asked. Then she noticed Sally looking at her. "What?"

"Grams, I'm not trying to be rude, but there's something wrong with your face." Sally said carefully.

Shirley got her compact out of her purse on the table. In the mirror, she could see that her face was covered in red blotches. She touched one of them and flinched at the burning sensation. "What is this?" She asked.

"Maybe it's an allergic reaction to something; did you put anything different on your face this morning?" Sally asked.

"No, just my usual face cream." Shirley said.

"Well, maybe you're developing an allergy to it." Sally suggested.

"Don't be silly, I've been using it for years; it's probably the air in this town." Shirley said.

"I think we have some allergy pills somewhere." Sally said, opening the medicine cabinet above the stove.

"Yeah, maybe I should take one." Shirley said.

Sally grabbed the allergy pills and tossed the bottle to Shirley.

There was a knock at the door and Sally went to answer it, leaving Shirley at the table to deal with her rashes.

"Coco, why are you knocking; you live here." She asked, letting her sister in.

"I forgot my key." Coco said, setting the syrup down on the table when they got to the kitchen.

"Again?" Sally teased.

"Honestly, Coco, one of these days, I'm going to superglue that key to your face." Shirley joked.

"Grams, are you ok?" Coco asked, noticing the rashes on Shirley's face. She sat down in the chair next to Shirley's and examined the rashes.

"I'm fine, it's nothing to be concerned about." Shirley said, moving back a little so Coco couldn't touch her.

"It started after you left; she thought I'd left the stove on and it was burning her face, but the stove was off and that was when we noticed the rashes." Sally told Coco.

"It's probably just an allergic reaction to this California air; I took an allergy pill, it should clear up soon." Shirley said.

"Are you sure?" Coco asked, worried.

"I'm pretty sure, now, let's eat before the pancakes get too cold to melt the butter." Shirley said, getting up.

Sally and Coco exchanged worried looks, but they followed their grandmother to the counter.

Later that night, Shirley stopped by the room that her sister use to use as a guest room when she lived in the apartment. It was now the room that Sally and Coco shared.

"I'm glad that rash cleared up, but I wish we knew what really caused it." Coco was telling Sally.

"That's the second time something weird has happened too, I don't know what's going on." Sally said, more to herself than to Coco.

"What else happened?" Coco asked, confused.

"Oh, it was nothing, someone just sent me a really creepy picture yesterday." Sally said. She couldn't tell her sister about the camera, even though part of her desperately wanted to.

"Oh wow, what was the picture of?" Coco asked.

"A house." Sally replied, thankful that Coco hadn't asked how the picture had been sent.

"What kind of house, a haunted one?" Coco asked with a laugh.

"No, a beach house...Aunt Sally's beach house." Sally replied.

"Are you serious?" Coco said, shocked.

"Yeah, but I talked to her right after and she seemed fine." Sally said.

"That's still crazy though, do you know who sent it?" Coco asked.

"No." Sally said, yawning.

"But she was ok when you talked to her?" Coco asked, slipping under the covers of her twin sized bed.

"Yeah, she didn't even seem concerned about it." Sally said, turning down the covers of her own bed.

"Well, if she didn't seem concerned about it, then maybe it's nothing." Coco said.

"Maybe, but I can't shake the feeling that something isn't right." Sally said.

"What are you going to do if something else happens?" Coco asked.

"I don't know, I'm too tired to think about it right now." Sally said, curling up under her covers.

"Me too, maybe we should get to sleep; goodnight." Coco said.

"Goodnight." Sally said, reaching up to turn off the lamp on the nightstand between their beds.

Shirley stepped away from the door and crept across the way to her room, which had once belonged to her sister.

Once she got into bed, she picked up the framed picture on her nightstand. It was a picture of her sister at the age of nineteen, standing on the pier at the lake where they'd spent most of their time growing up. She was looking past the camera, laughing at something in the distance that had caught her attention just before the picture was taken.

This was the last picture Shirley had of Sally before she'd moved to LA. Before she'd become a living legend in the fashion industry. Before she'd become better than her.

"Well, now it's my turn, sis; you may be a living legend, but I'll be in the fashion history books." Shirley said to the picture, before laying it face down on the nightstand and turning the lamp off.


	4. Chapter 4

_A/N- Hello, FFN! Sorry for the late update! I had planned on posting this morning, but I needed cigarettes, so I went to the store and ended up having a wreck! Fortunately no one was hurt, but I had to make a really fun trip to my insurance company's office, so I've been pretty busy all day. Anyway, here's chapter 4!_

B&B

Sally curled up in her chair behind her desk. It was Monday morning and she wasn't completely awake yet.

Saul was also behind the desk, trying to work on the camera feed. "That's just overkill." He said to the laptop.

"What?" Sally asked, yawning.

"Whoever took over the camera feed is behind about fifty proxies." Saul replied, annoyed.

"So what does that mean?" Sally asked.

"It means it's going to be a lot harder to find out who they are and shut them down, but maybe if I worked through lunch, I could get through half of them by the end of the day." Saul explained.

"You don't have to do that." Sally said.

"I do if you want to regain control of your laptop." Saul said.

"Well, yeah, but you don't have to work through lunch, I'm not in any hurry to get that camera feed back up." Sally said.

"But what will we tell Shirley?" Saul asked.

"For now, we can just tell her that it'll take a while." Sally said.

"Where is she anyway?" Saul asked.

"She's going to be a little late, she's been getting this nasty skin rash since Saturday; it seems to go away after she takes an allergy pill, but it keeps coming back the next day." Sally explained.

"Sounds like she's allergic to something." Saul said.

"She swears up and down that it's the California air, but I don't think so." Sally said.

"What do you think it could be?" Saul asked.

"I think it's her face cream because the rashes always appear after she uses it, but try telling _her_ that." Sally said, rolling her eyes.

"Hey, I just made it through the first proxy!" Saul exclaimed triumphantly.

"Great." Sally said, even though she didn't really think it was so great.

Saul seemed to pick up on her tone. "You don't really want me to fix this, do you?

"Well, if all the hacker is messing with is the camera feed, then why should we worry about it; I haven't been comfortable with the idea of putting a camera on my sister since Grams first came up with it; if you ask me, this is a blessing in disguise." Sally said.

"Maybe we should make sure they're not messing with anything else before we decide to give up on this." Saul suggested.

"You're right, I hadn't thought of that." Sally said, standing up and leaning over Saul's shoulder, causing him to blush.

"Let me know if you see something out of place." Saul said, pulling up the files and programs.

Sally noticed a folder that she didn't remember putting there. "I don't think I recognize that one." She said, pointing to the folder.

The name of the folder was _This Fashion House Has Spectras In It._

"You didn't put that there?" Saul asked.

"No, I can't think of a single reason why I would name a folder like that, unless maybe Grams put it there, open it and see what's in it." Sally said.

"Opening it might install a virus, maybe we should just delete it." Saul suggested.

"Well, if it's something Grams did, I don't want to get rid of it; besides, if it was a virus, wouldn't it have some random name that has nothing to do with anything else on the computer?" Sally asked.

"Well, yeah, but you don't think that name is random?" Saul asked.

"Well, it makes sense considering that this _is_ a fashion house and it _does_ have Spectras in it." Sally explained.

"Does it sound like something Shirley would name a folder?" Saul asked.

"It actually sounds more like something Aunt Sally would do." Sally said with a laugh.

"Well, if you're sure you're willing to risk a virus." Saul said, hesitantly.

"If it installs a virus, I'll have you to fix it for me." Sally said, laying a hand on his shoulder.

Saul blushed deeper. "Um, yeah, you...you do have me to...um...fix things for you." He stammered.

Just as Saul was about to click the folder, Shirley walked in, wearing quite a bit more makeup than usual.

"How are the rashes, Grams?" Sally asked.

"Painful." Shirley replied.

"Do you think you'll be ok?" Sally asked, concerned.

"Yeah, are you two working on the camera feed?" Shirley asked.

"We were, but it's going to take a while; the hacker is behind so many proxies that it'll be pretty hard to track them down." Saul explained.

Shirley rolled her eyes. "Nothing can ever be easy for a Spectra." She said to herself, sitting on the table next to the door.

"Grams, did you make a new folder on my laptop?" Sally asked.

"No, why?" Shirley asked.

"There's a folder we don't recognize; it's called _This Fashion House Has Spectras In It._ " Sally said.

"Really? Let me see." Shirley said, getting up and joining the two behind the desk.

Saul opened the folder and clicked the first file. What came up was the picture of Aunt Sally's beach house.

"Isn't that the same picture from the camera feed?" Shirley asked.

"I'm not so sure I like where this is going." Saul said nervously.

"Just open the next one." Sally told him.

Saul sighed and clicked the next file. It was another picture of Aunt Sally's house, except it was her back porch, which overlooked the ocean. They could just make out a figure with very red and very big hair standing on the porch.

"Is that Sally? What is going on here?" Shirley asked, nervously. If she hadn't been wearing so much makeup, her skin would have gone pale.

"Keep going, Saul." Sally said.

The next picture that came up was different. It was at some restaurant. Aunt Sally could be seen at a table, playing with the straw in her drink. She appeared to be talking to a man, but because of the angle of the camera, all that could be seen of the man was the back of his head. He had dark hair with slightly gray streaks.

Saul clicked the next file. It was a picture of Aunt Sally in her car, looking over her shoulder as she pulled out of the parking space. Her left arm was bandaged, which meant that the picture had been taken recently. The man she'd been talking to was nowhere in sight.

The next file was another picture of Aunt Sally's house. She was at the front door, fumbling with her keys and holding a lit cigarette between her lips.

The next picture that came up looked like it had been taken right outside Aunt Sally's bedroom window. She was on her bed, watching some horror film on her laptop, completely unaware that she was being photographed.

Saul clicked on the final file. It was a text file that read: _This is your fault, Shirley Spectra._

Sally pushed her chair behind Shirley, just in time for her to faint into it.


	5. Chapter 5

_A/N- This chapter is a little more lighthearted and I think the next chapter will be too, simply because, I love creepy things, but I've been having to deal with a lot of creepy things (hiking in the woods at 3am, exploring abandoned buildings, listening to creepypasta narrations, investigating the creepiest ARG ever, doing multiple fear experiments, etc) just to stay in the mood to write this story and too much of a good thing can really take a toll on my mental health. So, to give my nerves time to heal, I'm just going to keep things light for the next couple of chapters. Well, enjoy chapter 5!_

B&B

"Come on, Grams, come back to us." Sally said, gently shaking her grandmother.

"Should we call an ambulance?" Saul asked.

"No, I think she's just in shock." Sally replied.

The two continued to try to bring her back to consciousness. Darlita rushed in just as Shirley was starting to become responsive.

"Good job, Darlita, you're only five minutes late today." Sally said, glancing at the clock.

"Thanks, I'm trying to get here earlier." Darlita said, smiling. Then, she noticed Shirley looking disoriented. "Is everything ok?"

"Yeah, she just fainted, it's no big deal." Sally said.

Darlita shrugged and attempted to clock in, but the scanner wouldn't let her. She tried again a few more times before the scanner locked. "Why does this always happen to me?"

"Saul, get Grams some water while I deal with this." Sally said, taking out her badge.

"Sure." Saul said, heading for the door.

"Darlita, you're the only one who ever gets locked out; I don't know what you're doing to the scanner, but stop." Sally said, walking over to the scanner and scanning her badge. She punched in the unlock code using the rounded corner of her badge. "Ok, now try again."

Darlita tried again, but couldn't get past the home screen. The scanner didn't seem to recognize her touch. "I don't think it likes my fingers." She said.

"Use the rounded corner of your badge, that's what it's for." Sally said, as if she was talking to a toddler.

"Oh, I thought that was for pushing back my cuticles!" Darlita said.

Sally rolled her eyes as Darlita tried again, this time using the rounded corner of her badge.

"It worked!" She exclaimed.

"Good, now I need you to go out front and straighten up the filing cabinet." Sally said.

"Ok!" Darlita said, dancing out of the room.

"Are you ok, Grams?" Sally asked as soon as Darlita was gone.

"Yeah, I think it was the allergy pills." Shirley said.

"Grams, it's ok to admit that you're scared; a hacker just sent you a threatening message." Sally said.

"I'm not scared." Shirley said, a little too quickly.

"Grams, I'm scared too, there's no shame in it." Sally said gently.

"I said, I'm not scared." Shirley said.

"Ok, maybe you're concerned about Aunt Sally, it's pretty clear that the hacker is following her." Sally said.

"She can take care of herself; it was just the allergy pills making me dizzy." Shirley said firmly.

Sally rolled her eyes. "Ok, Grams, if you want to deny that this is affecting you, fine, but that doesn't change the fact that the message was directed at you, so you're involved in this whether you like it or not."

Saul walked in with a bottle of water. "So, what are we going to do about this?" He asked, handing the bottle to Shirley.

"I don't know." Sally said.

"Maybe we should go to the police." Saul suggested.

Sally and Shirley both laughed. Saul didn't understand what was so funny.

"Oh, he's serious." Sally said, recovering from her laughing fit.

"We're Spectras, honey, we handle our own problems, with street justice; we don't want or need the police involved in our family affairs." Shirley explained.

"Well, ok, then maybe we should delete the folder." Saul said.

"Now you're talking." Shirley agreed.

"No." Sally said.

"Sally, what would be the point of keeping it?" Shirley asked.

"Whoever has control of my laptop is obviously trying to tell us something; I say we try to find out what it is." Sally said.

"Sally, this isn't one of those games you and Coco like playing, this is really happening." Shirley said.

"Well, yeah, but I've learned enough playing ARGs to be able to apply it to this." Sally said.

"You play ARGs?" Saul asked, looking at Sally like she was the most perfect woman in the world.

"Yeah, I'm currently investigating _Aspicio Omniam_." Sally replied.

"Me too; have you found the blog yet?" Saul asked.

"I read it last night; I can't make sense of the Bambi post." Sally said.

"Me neither, and there's absolutely nothing in the page source." Saul said.

"I know, right; it's driving me crazy." Sally said with a laugh.

"Can we please get back to what we were talking about?" Shirley asked, rolling her eyes.

"Right, so the first thing we should do is look at what we already know." Sally said, pacing the floor.

"Well, we know that someone disabled the camera by hacking into your laptop and taking control of it." Saul said.

"Yeah, but the question is, did they know about the camera before or after they hacked my laptop?" Sally asked.

"Why would they hack the laptop if they didn't know about the camera before?" Shirley asked.

"Well, it's pretty clear that they want us to know something, maybe they found the camera feed and decided to use that to send us the first picture." Saul suggested.

"Exactly, what else?" Sally asked.

"That someone is following my sister and sending us pictures to let us know." Shirley said, trying to follow the conversation.

"Right, but why would they send us the pictures unless there was some hidden message?" Sally asked.

"And what is supposed to be my fault?" Shirley asked.

Sally stopped pacing. "That, I don't know."

"The pictures make it look like it's your fault someone is following her." Saul said.

"How would that be my fault?" Shirley asked defensively.

"Maybe that's what we're supposed to figure out." Sally said.

"Ok, so if I understand correctly, what we're dealing with is that my sister is being stalked and someone is trying to tell us by taking control of your laptop to send us pictures because it's somehow my fault, and we have to figure out who is doing it and why it's my fault?" Shirley asked.

"Pretty much." Sally said.

"So, how do we go about figuring it out?" Shirley asked.

"We can keep monitoring my laptop for more activity." Sally said.

"I think we also need to get through those proxies." Saul said.

"Yes, we definitely need to be able to track their location in case we have to fight them." Sally said.

"This is just like an ARG!" Saul said excitedly.

"I think we should also let Coco in on it." Sally said.

"Why?" Shirley asked.

"I don't want to keep her in the dark about this, we're already hiding the camera from her; besides, when we play ARGs together, she tends to notice more details than I do." Sally explained.

"We could use someone like that to help us." Saul agreed.

"Alright, but whatever you do, don't mention the camera." Shirley said firmly.

"We won't, Grams." Sally promised.

Just then, her phone beeped and she checked it. It was a text from her aunt.

 _I was thinking about you today. Just wanted to let you know that I'm very proud of you._

Sally smiled. "It's almost scary how Aunt Sally knows just what to say to me and when to say it." She said.

"Are you going to tell her about the pictures?" Shirley asked.

Sally thought about it. "I'll tell her without letting her know they were pictures of her, I don't want to freak her out." She said, replying to the text.

 _Thanks, I really needed to hear that after the news I got today. I heard someone is following people and taking pictures and it kinda freaked me out. We should probably keep our guards up._

Her aunt sent her another text.

 _I will if you will. Love you, darling._

Sally sent one more reply.

 _I love you too, Aunt Sally._


	6. Chapter 6

_A/N- Ok, ya'll, I know this story seems kind of random, but I promise I'm going somewhere with this. Just hang in there and it will all make sense in the end. Oh, and ramen noodles are the bomb! Also, thank you, AnnMagda, for the kind review. I'm so sorry I didn't give you a shoutout sooner, but I kept forgetting, so yeah, thank you so much for the review! Now, let's get on with chapter 6!_

B&B

It was lunch time and the Spectras and Saul were all in Sally's office, eating ramen noodles. Coco had come over to have lunch with her family and they had filled her in on what was going on, omitting the part about the camera. Darlita was out shopping.

"I've already managed to break through half of the proxies, I should be almost done by the end of the day." Saul was telling them.

"I thought you said you wouldn't be able to finish them today." Sally teased.

"That was before we had a real reason to find the hacker." Saul said.

"I still can't believe someone is stalking her, I wonder who it could be." Coco said.

"I can't believe they're saying it's my fault." Shirley grumbled.

"I wonder if maybe it's someone who knows you and Aunt Sally." Coco said.

"Hey, that's something I didn't think about, but it makes sense; they would have to know Aunt Sally to know where she lives." Sally said.

"And they would have to know Grams because they're trying to contact her." Coco said.

"I knew it would be great having you on our team." Saul said to Coco.

Coco smiled.

"So, Grams, can you think of anyone you and Aunt Sally both know?" Sally asked, turning to Shirley.

Shirley thought about it. There were a lot of people who knew them both, mostly family members, but it was an unspoken rule within the family that Spectras didn't hurt other Spectras, so it couldn't have been a relative. They did have a few mutual friends, though.

"Well, there's Clarke Garrison." She said finally.

"CJ's dad?" Sally asked.

"Yeah, he sometimes came with her when she visited me at the bakery; we got along pretty well." Shirley replied.

"Do you know if he's good with computers?" Saul asked.

"No, my sister is definitely better at it than he is." Shirley said.

"That could possibly rule him out, then, who else?" Sally asked.

"There's Gladys Pope, those two have always been joined at the hip, but she never seemed to like me very much." Shirley said.

"Do you think she could hack my laptop?" Sally asked.

"Who even knows with her? She's harder to figure out than my sister is." Shirley said.

"But if she's Aunt Sally's best friend, why would she stalk her?" Coco asked.

"Good point, is there anyone else, Grams?" Sally asked.

"I did meet Stephanie Forrester once and she was pretty snobby toward me, at least that's the impression I got." Shirley said.

"Well, it couldn't be her because she's dead." Coco said.

"I guess Gladys is the only likely suspect here, do you know what she does now, Grams?" Sally asked.

"Well, the last time Sally and I spoke, she said she was retired from hairdressing." Shirley replied.

"She's definitely someone we need to keep an eye on." Sally said.

"But we can't rule out the possibility that it could be someone else entirely." Saul said.

"True, but I think we should still investigate Gladys, she's the only lead we have right now." Sally said.

"So, what do we do now?" Shirley asked.

"We need to finalize our game plan, we're going to have to divide the workload so nobody gets overwhelmed." Sally said.

"That's a good idea; I can work on the technical side of it." Saul offered.

"You should definitely be our computer guy; and are you ok with being responsible for relaying any new activity to us?" Sally asked.

"Of course." Saul said.

"I'll be the examiner." Coco volunteered.

"Yes, we could definitely use your eye for detail." Sally said.

"What can I do?" Shirley asked.

"You can be our historian, there may be some things that can only be figured out by someone who grew up with Aunt Sally." Sally replied.

"What are you going to do?" Saul asked Sally.

"I'll be the field agent; I can follow Gladys and as soon as you get through the proxies, I'll go to the location and take a look around." Sally said.

"Are you sure that's safe; what if this is some serial killer?" Saul asked, worried.

"I'll be fine, I can defend myself if I have to; so does everyone know what they're doing?" Sally asked.

"Yeah, Saul, would you mind sending those pictures for me to analyze?" Coco asked.

"Will do." Saul said, saluting her.

"Great, well, I've got to get back to Forrester, my lunch break is almost over." Coco said, looking at the clock.

"Ok, let us know if there's anything in the pictures that might help us." Sally said.

Coco nodded and waved goodbye before leaving the office.

"I better get back to work on the proxies." Saul said, opening the laptop.

Shirley noticed Coco's phone lying on the desk. "Oh, she left her phone, I better catch her before she leaves." She said, picking up the phone and walking quickly out the door.

"I think I can get through these next few pretty easily." Saul told Sally.

"I should probably get to work on investigating Gladys; I know where she use to go to church because Aunt Sally would take us when we visited; I think that would be a good place to start." Sally said.

"Do you think she still goes there?" Saul asked.

"I don't know, maybe." Sally said.

Just then, there was a loud crash and they heard Shirley scream right outside the door.

Sally and Saul both jumped up and hurried out of the office to see what was going on.

They found Shirley sitting in Darlita's chair, with Coco pressing a tissue to her forehead. There was broken glass everywhere.

"What happened?" Sally asked.

"She was trying to give me my phone, but the poster fell on her." Coco explained.

Sally bent down and carefully picked up the _Sally Says Recycle_ poster. The frame was broken and the glass was shattered, but the poster was unharmed. She rolled it up and put it on Darlita's desk.

"Are you hurt, Grams?" She asked Shirley.

"No, it's just a cut." Shirley said.

"I think the bleeding is slowing down." Coco said, throwing the bloody tissue into the waste basket.

Sally examined the cut on Shirley's forehead. It didn't look too deep. "I'll get some bandages and an ice pack." She said, stepping into her office. She quickly came back with a first aid kit.

Saul inspected the wall where the poster had been hanging. "It looks like the hook is broken." He told them, when they finished dressing Shirley's wound.

"That doesn't surprise me, that poster has been there since the beginning of time." Sally said as she popped the emergency ice pack to activate it. She handed it to Shirley, who pressed it to the bandaged cut.

"We should probably get this cleaned up before someone else gets hurt." Coco said, hurrying off to get a broom and dustpan just as Darlita stepped out of the elevator.

"Be careful, Darlita, there's glass everywhere." Saul said.

"What happened?" Darlita asked, taking a step back to avoid cutting herself on a shard of glass.

"The poster's hook broke and it fell on Grams." Sally explained.

"It was probably just worn out, that poster has been there forever." Sally said.

"But, CJ put a new hook in while you were in Australia." Darlita said, confused.

"Are you sure?" Saul asked.

"I'm positive." Darlita replied.

"How can a new hook break so easily?" Sally asked.

"I don't know and I don't care, I've had a rough day, I'm going home." Shirley said, getting up.

"Grams, maybe you should sit still for a while, you just had a head injury." Sally said, gently pushing Shirley back into the chair.

"I'm fine, I'll just go home and get some rest." Shirley said.

"Ok, well, at least let us drive you." Sally said.

Coco came back with a broom and began sweeping up the glass.

"Coco, you can go back to Forrester, let Darlita worry about that." Sally said.

"Are you sure?" Coco asked.

"Yeah, don't lose your internship for going over on your lunch break." Sally said.

"Ok, I'll see you at home." Coco said, handing the broom to Darlita and going down the elevator.

Darlita started cleaning up the broken glass.

"Saul, would you mind getting our purses and following us in your car so I'll have a way to get back?" Sally asked.

"Sure." Saul said. He went into the office and grabbed the purses sitting on the table next to the door.

"Darlita, do you think you can hold down the fort for a little while?" Shirley asked.

"Yeah, no problem, I hope you feel better." Darlita said, putting her headphones in.

"We better not be gone for too long." Saul whispered to Sally, just in case Darlita could still hear through her headphones.

Sally waved goodbye to Darlita and mouthed "We'll be right back." as they got into the elevator.

When they got to the parking lot, Sally and Shirley got into Shirley's car with Sally in the driver's seat and Saul got into his car. They all drove to the Spectras' apartment building in a part of town that was not quite dangerous, but not quite safe either. They found the apartment on the top floor. Once they got Shirley settled in, Sally and Saul got into Saul's car.

"So, this is where you guys live?" Saul asked as they pulled out of the parking lot.

"Yeah, it's actually a step up from where we use to live; our old house is a trailer in the woods." Sally said.

"Sounds more like a step down to me, I'd kill to get out of my apartment and live in a trailer in the woods." Saul said.

Sally laughed. "I guess it's not so bad living in a trailer, except during storms, then you have to worry about your house tipping over."

"Does that happen often?" Saul asked.

"Only in really rough storms." Sally said.

"On second thought, I think I'll stay in my apartment." Saul said.

They both laughed.

"So, do you think your aunt will be ok?" Saul asked, after a brief silence.

"I hope so; it's pretty scary that someone is following her, but I have this feeling that whoever is behind this is trying to tell us something really important, like it's not really about Aunt Sally, it's about the whole family and the company." Sally said, looking down at her hands in her lap.

Saul could hear the worry in her voice and, acting braver than he felt, he reached out and touched her shoulder. "Hey, we'll figure this out, and we'll all deal with whatever happens together."

Sally smiled halfheartedly and turned to stare out the window. She was still worried. She felt like her company's future and her family's lives depended on figuring out what was going on. She thought about this for the rest of the ride back to Spectra Fashions.


	7. Chapter 7

_A/N- Hey ya'll, so sorry it took me forever to update, but I broke a tooth pretty bad and wasn't able to get to the dentist until yesterday. When you feel like you've got a million sharp spikes stabbing your gums repeatedly, it can be quite distracting which makes writing difficult. It also makes singing almost impossible, as I quickly found out at church Sunday. Thank God I wasn't singing a solo that day! But anyway now it's fixed, so here's chapter 7!_

B&B

Sally hid in the bushes across from Las Angeles Baptist Church, watching as Gladys Pope walked out with the rest of the congregation. She watched as Gladys stopped to speak to another woman before getting into her car. Sally waited for a few minutes after she drove off, then got in her own car and followed her.

The next time she saw Gladys's car, it was parked at the pump at a gas station. She saw Gladys come out of the store with a pack of cigarettes and a soda. She got into her car and drove off.

Sally watched Gladys drive down the highway and followed her, turning down different streets every so often to avoid looking too suspicious. The last thing she wanted was for Gladys to realize she was being followed.

After what seemed like forever, Gladys's car finally turned and parked in the driveway of the suburban house that Sally remembered visiting with her aunt a few times when she was a little girl.

Sally drove until she found a vacant lot and parked the car before walking back to Gladys's house.

From her hiding place in the bushes under the living room window, Sally watched Gladys disappear into the kitchen and come back with a bag of chips. She sat down in the recliner and picked up the remote, flipping through the channels before settling on an episode of _Paranormal Witness._

Sally briefly wondered if everyone associated with Aunt Sally was a horror junkie before refocusing on Gladys.

She was now struggling with the bag of chips. The bag eventually exploded and chips went everywhere. Sally bit down on her palm to avoid laughing as Gladys cursed and got up to get a dustpan.

When Gladys returned, she cleaned up the chips and a techno beat came from her phone. She picked it up and read the text and then typed out a reply.

Once she finished cleaning up, she sat down and munched on what was left of the chips, turning her attention back to the TV.

Sally continued to watch Gladys until well into the night, when the retired hairdresser finally went to bed. Then, she walked back to the vacant lot and got into her car. She couldn't help but feel disappointed, having spent all that time only to learn nothing that would help them figure out who was stalking Aunt Sally.

When she got home, the lights were out, which meant that Shirley and Coco were already in bed. Sally crept down the short hallway and peeked into Shirley's room. Shirley was sleeping, but her face looked troubled. Sally figured she was probably having a nightmare and quietly closed the door. Then she stepped across the hall to her room.

She noticed that Coco had kicked the covers off of her bed and was curled up, sleeping peacefully. She looked cold, so Sally pulled the covers up and arranged them around her. Then she went into the bathroom and took a quick shower before changing into her pajamas and climbing into her own bed.

The next morning, Sally and Shirley noticed that Shirley's car had a flat tire. There was a nail stuck in the front of it. It didn't look like she had run over it, it looked like someone had put it there.

"This is just great; what else could possibly go wrong?" Shirley wondered out loud.

"It looks pretty sketchy, I don't think this was an accident, Grams." Sally said, inspecting the tire.

"What are you talking about? Of course it was an accident." Shirley said.

"How can you run over a nail and it end up at the front of the tire?" Sally asked skeptically.

"Well, maybe I hit it just the right way and it bounced, it could happen." Shirley said.

Sally didn't believe her grandmother had run over the nail, and she didn't think Shirley believed it either by the tone of her voice, but she decided to let it go. "Well, I guess we're carpooling today."

As they both got into Sally's car, Sally noticed that Shirley was playing with her hair, something she only did when she was anxious.

"Don't worry about it, Grams, maybe it _was_ an accident." Sally said as they pulled out of the parking lot.

"Did you happen to hear from your aunt last night?" Shirley asked, ignoring Sally's statement.

"No, did you?" Sally asked.

"No, but she was probably asleep, forget I said anything." Shirley said.

"Did you try to get in touch with her?" Sally asked.

"Yeah, but it was midnight, I'm sure she was asleep." Shirley replied.

Sally knew that her aunt couldn't have been asleep that early unless she was sick. She was notoriously nocturnal and was never in bed before three in the morning. "I hope she's ok."

"I'm sure she's fine, just forget it." Shirley said.

The rest of the ride was silent.

When they got to Sally's office, Shirley turned on the coffee pot and Sally sat down at her desk. She noticed a note on her laptop in Saul's handwriting.

 _Sally, I was able to get through the rest of the proxies after you left. I'm sorry to say this but it turns out that the hacker's traffic is coming from a known dark net relay._

Sally groaned and put her head down on her desk.

"What?" Shirley asked.

"The hacker is using a dark net relay, tracking their location would be almost impossible." Sally explained, sitting back in her chair.

"Have they sent us anything else?" Shirley asked, not even attempting to hide the fear in her voice.

Sally powered up the laptop and opened the folder. There were two new files. "Yeah, two video files, it looks like one was sent last night and the other was sent at six this morning."

Shirley stepped behind the desk just as Saul walked in and clocked into the scanner.

"I take it you got my note." He said, noticing their worried expressions.

"Yeah, and there are two new files; video files." Sally replied.

"Videos? They've only sent pictures up until now, that's got to be significant." Saul said, moving to the other side of Sally behind the desk.

Sally opened the video file that had been sent the night before. Whoever was recording appeared to be walking. They stopped when they got to Aunt Sally's living room window. It was still daylight.

Through the window, Aunt Sally could be seen smoking a cigarette and watching TV. The camera zoomed in on a soda sitting on the side table next to her recliner.

When the camera zoomed back out, the person recording pointed the camera at their hand. It looked like a man's hand, holding a bottle of pills. _Trazodone_ was printed on the label, but the man's thumb covered the name of the person the pills belonged to. The screen slowly faded to black.

When the picture came back up, the man behind the camera was now in the living room. Aunt Sally was nowhere to be seen, but the sound of running water could be heard coming from the bathroom, which meant that she was probably taking a shower.

The camera man picked up the soda bottle and poured a white powdery substance into it. The soda fizzed slightly and the man put it back down. The video faded again.

Next, the man was back outside, recording through the window. It was now dark and Aunt Sally was in her pajamas. The camera briefly zoomed in on the now empty soda bottle before zooming out and pointing back to Aunt Sally, who was getting up to throw the bottle away.

As soon as she stood up, she got a weird look on her face and sat back down, putting her head in the palms of her hands. She seemed to be feeling dizzy. She looked up at the clock on the wall with a confused expression.

The camera zoomed in on the clock. It was eight o'clock.

Aunt Sally stood up again, slowly this time, and walked unsteadily out of the room before the video faded again.

When the video came back up, the camera was in night vision mode. The camera man appeared to be walking around inside the house. He zoomed in on the clock, which now read nine o'clock. Then he turned and walked to the other end of the house.

He came to a door and slowly opened it, revealing Aunt Sally's bedroom. Aunt Sally was lying on the bed. She appeared to be in a very deep sleep. The camera man approached the bed and reached out to her sleeping form, softly running his fingers through her hair before the screen faded to black again.

The next thing that came up was a still image of an airplane in flight before the video ended.

Sally and Saul both looked at Shirley, who had been playing with her hair the whole time.

"Grams, do you need to step out for a second?" Sally asked.

"No, I'm fine, play the other video." Shirley said quickly.

Sally hovered over the next video file with shaking hands.

"Are you sure you want to?" Saul asked, concerned.

"No, but I have to; I have to know if she's ok." Sally said, clicking the video.

The video was much shorter than the previous one. It opened with a shot of a dark and dusty room, probably a basement. There was an old, worn out mattress in the middle of the room and Aunt Sally was sitting cross-legged on the end of it. She was still in her pajamas and her hair stuck out in all directions. The bandage on her arm was slightly frayed. She was looking apprehensively to the right of the camera.

A distorted voice could be heard from behind the camera. "This is your sister's fault; everything that's going to happen to you is because of her behavior; and she's going to watch it, she's going to watch every bit of it."

Aunt Sally looked straight into the camera and made clicking noises with her tongue before a man's hand, holding a squirt bottle, reached out and sprayed her with water. She shielded her face with her bandaged arm and the video ended.

Shirley stopped playing with her hair and stared straight ahead, her expression was one of terror.


	8. Chapter 8

_A/N- Ok, so this chapter might be a little freaky, but everything in every chapter is important to the plot, so yeah. I'm thinking we've only got about two more chapters to go in this story, but I'm not sure. I see it in my head, but I don't have it on paper yet. Yes, I always write the chapter in a notebook before I type it. That's just how I roll! LOL But anyway, on to chapter 8...I think...I forgot what chapter we were on! LOL_

B&B

Shirley drove Sally's car until she came to a bar. She had just found out that someone knew what she was doing to her granddaughters and that they had her sister. They were holding her sister captive because of her, and they were going to make her watch. They were going to make her watch whatever torture they had planned for her and Shirley knew it was all her fault. She felt like _she_ was the one hurting her sister.

She parked the car in the parking lot. She could really use a drink.

Just as she was about to walk in the door, she spotted CJ and Clarke walking out of the coffee shop across the street.

She closed the door. She had to talk to them. If anyone could help Sally, it would be them. If nothing else, Sally's son and ex-husband deserved to know what was going on with her.

"CJ!" She called, waving her arms to get his attention.

CJ looked up and saw her. He handed his coffee to Clarke and checked traffic before crossing the street.

"Aunt Shirley, what's going on?" CJ asked, when he got to her side of the street and noticed her frightened expression.

"I need to talk to you, it's about your mother." Shirley said.

"Is everything alright?" CJ asked, as they walked back to the parking lot.

"No, everything is not alright, someone has been stalking her." Shirley said in a hushed tone.

"What do you mean?" CJ asked.

"Just what I said, someone has been stalking her and sending us pictures; and now they're holding her captive." Shirley explained.

"Are you feeling alright?" CJ asked, concerned.

"I know it sounds crazy, but it's true; come with me back to Spectra, I'll show you." Shirley said, grabbing his arm and pulling him toward the car.

"Aunt Shirley, do you need me to call Sally to come pick you up?" CJ asked, pulling his arm away.

"No, she can't anyway, I'm driving her car." Shirley said.

"Why?" CJ asked.

"Because someone put a nail in my tire." Shirley explained.

"Ok, now I _really_ don't think you should be driving." CJ said.

"What do you mean?" Shirley asked.

"Don't try to deny it, Aunt Shirley, I saw you coming out of the bar." CJ said.

"No, I didn't even go in, I stopped when I saw you." Shirley said with a laugh.

Clarke pulled into the parking lot and got out of his car.

"Dad, would you mind driving Aunt Shirley back to Spectra? I think she's had a little too much to drink." CJ said to him.

"Sure." Clarke replied.

"No, CJ, you have to listen to me, they're hurting her!" Shirley exclaimed, getting more frightened by the second.

"Who is she talking about?" Clarke asked.

"She told me that someone is holding Mom captive or something." CJ explained.

"That can't be true." Clarke said, confused.

"It is true, someone has been stalking her and sending us pictures." Shirley insisted.

"Shirley, I just visited her, she's fine." Clarke said, gently.

"Yeah, Dad just got back early this morning; unless something happened last night, she's probably relaxing on the beach right now." CJ said.

"But she isn't, she's in some basement, on and old dirty mattress!" Shirley exclaimed.

CJ and Clarke looked at each other.

"Give me the keys, Aunt Shirley, I'll get Sally's car back to her." CJ said, holding out his hand.

"Why don't you believe me?" Shirley asked.

"Come on, I'll drive you back to Spectra." Clarke said, putting his arm around Shirley's shoulders.

"But I haven't been drinking." Shirley said.

"If you say so." Clarke said, sounding like he didn't believe her at all.

Shirley sighed and handed CJ the keys. It was clear that, no matter what she said, they weren't going to believe her, so she allowed Clarke to lead her to his car.

"So, how many did you have?" Clarke asked, after pulling out of the parking lot and turning onto the street.

"I already told you, I haven't been drinking." Shirley said.

"Yeah, sure you haven't." Clarke said sarcastically.

"I haven't!" Shirley insisted.

"Then, where in the world did you get the idea that Sally was being held captive?" Clarke asked.

"It's true." Shirley said.

"Shirley, your sister and I are very close friends, I think I would know if something like that was going on." Clarke said.

"You must think I'm crazy." Shirley said.

"No, not at all." Clarke said.

"Yes you do, I can hear you thinking it." Shirley snapped, getting frustrated.

"Well, I didn't, but now I do; or at least you've had a little more to drink than I thought." Clarke said, chuckling as they pulled into the parking lot of Spectra Fashions.

He parked in his old parking space, just as CJ was pulling up next to them in Sally's car. There were no other cars in the parking lot.

"Come inside with me, I'll show you." Shirley said, as they got out of the car.

"Alright, if it will make you feel better, we'll look at whatever it is you want to show us." Clarke said.

The two of them followed Shirley into the building.

"I'll let Sally know that Aunt Shirley is ok; they're probably all out looking for her." CJ said to Clarke.

"Good idea." Clarke said, but he was looking at the air vent across from the elevator.

CJ followed his gaze and the two of them exchanged a look before stepping into the elevator with Shirley.

When they got to the office, Shirley went straight to the laptop on the desk. "Just watch, you'll see that I'm telling the truth."

CJ's phone beeped and he checked it. "Oh man, I forgot, Dad we're late for the meeting!" He said to Clarke.

"Oh, you're right, sorry Shirley, we have to go." Clarke said.

"But you can't, you have to see this." Shirley said, desperate to get them to understand.

"We'll see it later, just relax and have some coffee or something." Clarke said, heading for the door.

CJ followed him. "I texted Sally to let her know you're here, so don't wander off." He called over his shoulder.

"No, wait!" Shirley exclaimed, following them, but they ignored her and disappeared into the elevator, leaving her standing in the doorway, completely alone in the empty building.

She looked up at the poster that had hit her a couple of days ago. Sally had bought a new frame and a stronger hook for it. Her sister's eyes seemed to be looking right at her, judging her.

"So what if my methods are different from yours; why does it matter how the company is revived as long as it's revived?" She asked the poster.

Of course, she knew why it mattered. She knew she had done the worst thing a Spectra could do and she knew that someone was hurting her sister because of it.

"I can't do what you asked me to do, Sally, they'll hate me; it would ruin everything." She told the poster.

Just then, the phone in the office rang, startling Shirley out of her thoughts. She picked it up.

"Hello."

There was nothing but silence on the other end.

" _Hello?_ " She tried again.

There was a click, like someone was hanging up, and then all that could be heard was the dial tone.

Suddenly, the _Spectra_ logo on the wall came crashing down, narrowly missing Shirley. She screamed and backed away just as all of the pictures fell off of the shelf behind the desk.

Shirley couldn't stay in the room any longer. There was something in there and it was out to get her. She ran out of the room and into the elevator.

When she got to the first floor, she ran outside, just as three cars were pulling into the parking lot.


	9. Chapter 9

_A/N- I'm so sorry for taking so long to update and for posting such a short chapter. I've had a rough week. My cousin died in a car crash and then my friend died four days later in a separate car crash. Also, my boyfriend is a jerk who drives me to drink, so pardon the typos. I'll try to keep it to a minimum. So yeah, I haven't had much time or energy to write. But here's chapter...whatever chapter we're on. Enjoy._

B&B

Sally and Saul got out of Saul's car and hurried over to Shirley.

"Grams, what's wrong? CJ said you had too much to drink." Sally asked when they reached her.

"I wasn't drinking, I didn't even go into the bar." Shirley said. She was still trembling.

"Are you sure?" Sally asked, skeptically.

"Of course I'm sure!" Shirley snapped.

"She doesn't seem drunk." Saul said.

"Then, why would CJ say that?" Sally asked.

"I told him what was going on and he didn't believe me." Shirley said.

"Grams, are you ok?" Coco asked, when she and Darlita got to them.

"No, I'm not; and why aren't you at Forrester? It's not lunch time yet." Shirley asked.

"I called her after you left, we were worried when you didn't come back." Sally explained.

"This won't mess you up on your internship, will it?" Shirley asked.

"No, i told them it was a family emergency and they told me I could take the day off." Coco said.

"Come on, let's go inside." Sally said.

"No, I'm not going back in there." Shirley said, taking a couple of steps back.

"Why not?" Sally asked.

"This is going to sound crazy, but there's something in there and it was trying to hurt me." Shirley said.

"What do you mean there's something in there; what happened?" Sally asked.

"After CJ and Clarke left, the phone rang and there was no one there, and the sign and all the pictures fell down." Shirley explained.

"Sounds like a ghost." Darlita said, earning a glare from Sally.

"But who was phone?" Coco asked, laughing.

Sally and Saul laughed too.

Shirley rolled her eyes. She didn't understand what was funny, but she figured it was some horror joke. "Guys, this is serious!" She snapped.

"Sorry, Grams; come on let's go inside." Sally said.

"No, I'm not goin in there!" Shirley said firmly.

Sally rolled her eyes. "I don't have time for this; Coco, can you take Grams home?"

"Sure." Coco said.

"What are you going to do?" Shirley asked.

"I'm going to see what's really going on in the office." Sally replid.

"Don't go in there; I'm telling you, there's something bad in there!" Shirley exclaimed, a wild look in her eyes.

"I think I can handle whatever it is, Grams." Sally said gently.

"Well, please don't go in there by yourself; Saul, go with her." Shirley said, turning to Saul.

"I will if you want me to." Saul said to Sally.

"You might as well, just to calm her down." Sally said.

"What can I do?" Darlita asked.

"I don't think we're oing to be doing much else today, you can just take the rest of the day off." Sally replied.

"Yay!" Darlita exclaimed, heading for her car.

"Come on, Grams, let's go home." Coco said, gripping Shirley's arm so she couldn't run away.

"Be careful, Sally; call me if anything else happens!" Shirley exclaimed, stuggling to get away from Coco.

"I'll see you when you get home." Coco said, as she dragged Shirley to her car.

Sally waved goodbye to them as she and Saul entered the building. Once they were in the elevator, Sally sighed and leaned against the wall.

"Is Shirley ok? The rashes seem to be getting worse and her behavior is becoming more and more erratic." Saul said.

"She's terrified and it's messing with her head." Sally explained.

"You sound like you've seen her like this before." Saul said.

"Not with the rashes, but I do rememeber the night Coco and I were taken away from our parents; she was so out of it when she came to pick us up that Aunt Sally had to drive and we all stayed with her for a few days until Grams was stable enough to take care of us." Sally said.

"I can imagine what that was like." Saul said.

"That's a different story for a different time...if the story teller doesn't die of alcohol posioning first." Sally replied.

*TheLovelyHolly shrugs and tops off her drink*

"So, if Shirley's a little out of it, do you think she might have imagined what she told us?" Saul asked, as they stepped out of the elevator.

Sally opened the door to the office and found the _Spectra_ sign and all the pictures scattered all over the floor. "I guess not." She said as thhey both stepped into the room.

As Sally walked past the table by the door, she picked up a very familiar scent. It was her aunt's favorite perfume. A sugary sweet mixture of berries and flowers. As a child, when she smelled that perfume, she knew it meant that her Aunt Sally was nearby, but now she wasn't so sure what it meant. Was she so worried about her aunt that she was imagining it?

"Do you smell something really sweet? Like berries and flowers?" Saul saked, as he hun the sign badck up .

"Yeah, it smells just like Aunt Sally's favorit e perfume." Sally replied, relieved that she hadn't imagined it.

"That's strange, does Shirley wear the same kind? I mean, they _are_ twins.' Saul asked.

"Doubtful, Grams hates that stuff; she prefers candy apple, which, ironically, Aunt Sally hates." Sally said with a laugh as she helped Saul pick up the pictures and put them back wehre they belonged.

"Well your aunt spent a lt of time in here, mabe her perfume became part of the dust in the carpet or something." Saul suggested.

"Maybe." Sally said, but she couldn't shake the feeling that this meant something.

"Well, whatever freaked Shirley out doesn't seem to be here anymore, it hasn't bothered us." Saul said.

"I don't know what it could have been, but rhere has to be a logivcal explanation." Sally said.

"Like what?" Saul asked.

"I don't kow, maybe it was a minor earthquake or something." sally suggested, though she wasn't so sure.

"Yeah, that's probably ut." Saul said, though he didn't sound so sure either.

"Well, I guess we'd better close early tody, I don't think we'll be getting much done anyway; I'll pay you and Darlita for the whowle day." Sally said.

" I hope Shirley will be ok." Saul said as they left the room and fot in the elevartor.

"She will, she just need to face what's bothering her, lke last time...when Aunt Sally helped her take care of us." Sally said, suddenly missing her aunt.

"We could really use her help right now." Saul said as they exited the building.

"Yeaf" Sally said, looking wistfuly down the street.

"I think she'll bbe ok." Saul said

"She's not ok now, someone is holding her captive." Sally said.

"Yeah, but my granddad alays said she was pretty strong." Saul said.

"Strong, not indistructible." Sally said. Then, she thought about it. "Ok, maybe a little indistructable."

They both laughted.

"The point is we will find a way to help her, sh'ell be fine." Saul said.

"Maybe you're right." Sally said, but she didn't feel too confident.

B&B

 _A/N 2- Ok, I'm endin thi s chapter here beccause I'm slightly tipsy. Stay tuned for th nesxt chiapter. I decided to make the story longer so IDK how manty cha[ers we haev left._


	10. Chapter 10

_A/N- Ok, I'm back on track with my writing. I finally left that boyfriend of mine, so no more binge drinking for right now, which means no more drunk posts! Also, sorry I'm posting this so late at night. Some kind of electrical thing blew up and the power was out all day on my side of the train tracks. No power means no wifi, but it's finally back up, so here's chapter 10!_

B&B

Sally unlocked the door to the apartment and walked in to see CJ and Coco sitting on the sofa.

CJ looked up. "Oh, hi Sally, I was just telling Coco about the time we kidnapped her when she was a baby."

"Did you really trick Grams into letting you take me to the creek?" Coco asked.

"I sure did; I asked her a question I was sure she'd say yes to and then quietly added the part about going to the creek with CJ and taking you with us." Sally said, putting her keys down and joining them in the living room.

"She also tricked _me_ into believing she actually _had_ permission." CJ said.

"Well, I technically did." Sally said, laughing.

CJ and Coco laughed too.

"Man, I thought mom was going to kill me when she found us." CJ said.

Coco looked at Sally, who shook her head.

"So, what _did_ she do?" Coco asked, turning back to CJ.

"She grounded me for a week." CJ replied.

"Not fair, Grams grounded me for _two_ weeks." Sally said.

"Hey, as far as I knew, you had permission, so I shouldn't have been grounded at all." CJ said.

"I'll never forget the look on Grams' face when we got home; I knew I was in for it before she even put Coco to bed and gave me my punishment." Sally said.

"I don't remember Grams ever punishing me like that." Coco said.

"That's because you never did anything to _get_ punished." Sally said.

"Yes I did; I remember when I smeared chocolate all over her and the bed while she was sleeping, she just laughed." Coco said.

"Yeah, we're related; my mom has pictures of when I did the same thing to her" CJ said with a laugh.

"I remember that; I think she laughed because she was so relieved that it was chocolate and not something else." Sally said.

They all laughed.

"Well, I'd better get going, I have a meeting first thing in the morning; I'm glad Aunt Shirley is ok, though." CJ said.

"Thanks for stopping by." Coco said.

"No problem, goodnight." CJ said, getting up.

"Goodnight." Sally and Coco both said.

"So, how is Grams?" Sally asked once CJ was gone.

"She's in bed; I'm so worried about her, I've never seen her like this before." Coco said.

"She was like this for a while after the state took us away from mom and dad, but you were just a baby at the time." Sally said as they both got up and headed to the hallway.

They stopped by Shirley's room and peeked in. Shirley was curled up under the covers, sobbing.

Sally and Coco decided to just leave her alone and went to their room to get ready for bed.

The next morning, Sally and Saul got to Spectra at the same time.

"Wow, you're really early today." Sally said.

"Yeah, I woke up an hour early and decided to just come and see what I can get done on the laptop." Saul replied.

Shirley got out of Sally's car and walked past them without speaking.

"She had a rough night last night." Sally explained as they all went inside.

Meanwhile, over at Forrester, Coco was alone in the warehouse, drawing in her sketchbook. She was having trouble concentrating because she kept thinking about her family.

She hated that she barely remembered her aunt. She had only been a child when Aunt Sally had moved away, but Shirley had always told them stories about growing up with her.

Coco could only bring up fuzzy memories of going to church with Aunt Sally and Gladys. They would always go out for ice cream afterwards. The only time Sally and Coco ever got to go to church was when they'd visited Aunt Sally. Coco wished she had spent more time with her aunt.

The realization that she may not get to see Aunt Sally again if they couldn't find her brought tears to her eyes.

She set her sketchbook down and buried her face in her hands, crying about her aunt, about her grandmother, and about her entire family.

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps made her look up. She had no idea how long she'd been there. She quickly stuffed her sketchbook back in her purse and stood up to see who it was.

It was Steffy.

"There you are, we've been looking all over for you." Steffy said. Then, she noticed the tears. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, just some family trouble." Coco replied, wiping her eyes.

"I hope it won't affect your performance here." Steffy said.

For some reason, that comment annoyed Coco. It was like Steffy only cared about her performance and not about her as a person. "Don't worry, it won't." She said, careful to keep a friendly tone.

"Well, listen, why don't you come eat lunch in the break room with us." Steffy offered.

"Is it lunch time already?" Coco asked. Had she really been crying that long?

"It's been lunch time for about ten minutes; are you sure you're ok?" Steffy asked.

"I'm fine; and thanks for the invitation, but I think I'll just have lunch at Spectra." Coco said.

"Are you sure you don't want to find out what real food tastes like?" Steffy asked.

"We have real food at Spectra." Coco said, not even bothering to hide the coldness in her voice this time. She turned and left the building. Once she got into her car, she didn't stop until she got to Spectra.

"Sorry I'm late." She said when she got to the office.

"We were about to send out a search party for you." Sally teased, passing her a cup of ramen.

Coco noticed that Shirley was staring off into space. "Grams, is everything ok?" She asked.

Shirley didn't answer.

"Another video came through." Saul explained.

"Really? Let me see." Coco said, moving behind the desk with Sally and Saul.

"Grams, do you need to step out?" Sally asked Shirley.

"No." Shirley said, her voice devoid of all emotion.

Sally, Saul, and Coco all exchanged concerned looks.

"Are you sure, Grams?" Coco asked.

"Yes." Shirley replied in the same tone.

The three of them were still worried, but they turned their attention to the laptop as Sally clicked the video.

Aunt Sally could be seen curled up on the same mattress as before. Her thick, red hair covered her face.

Suddenly, a bright spotlight shined on her and she looked up. The left side of her face was badly bruised. It almost looked like someone had hit her.

The sound of a door opening could be heard to the right of the camera. Aunt Sally looked nervously at the man who walked in. He was wearing a mask and a hoodie and carrying a bowl of something gooey and white.

She made her clicking noises before the man proceeded to feed her the substance from the bowl.

There was a knock behind the camera and Aunt Sally looked up before the video ended.

"So, Saul and I think that whoever is behind this punishes her every time she makes those clicking noises." Sally said.

"But why?" Coco asked.

"Well, we think she's trying to communicate with us; I'll see if I can decode the noises." Saul said.

"That's a good idea." Coco said.

"Is there anything you notice from the video that we might have missed?" Sally asked.

"Actually, yes, I think there's more than one person in the room and I think at least one of them is someone she's close to." Coco replied.

"How do you figure that?" Shirley asked, perking up.

"Back it up to the point where the guy is feeding her." Coco told Sally.

Shirley joined them behind the desk as Sally backed the video up.

"The guy came from the right of the camera, but when the commotion behind the camera happens, Aunt Sally looks to the left." Coco explained.

"You're right, there's no way the guy could have made that noise." Sally said.

"Exactly, but look at her expression; she almost looks concerned for the person behind the camera." Coco said.

"So?" Shirley said.

"Would you be concerned about a _stranger_ who was holding you captive?" Coco asked.

"Good point." Shirley said.

"So, you think she knows the person behind the camera?" Saul asked.

"Yes, and I believe that if we can figure out who it is, we'll be able to find her." Coco said.

"Then, we'll have to keep an eye on Gladys and Clarke." Sally said.

"I thought we ruled Clarke out." Shirley said.

"We did, but Aunt Sally is close to him; even if he's not the one who hacked my laptop, he could still be involved." Sally said.

"But you learned nothing from following Gladys; what makes you think she's still a suspect?" Coco asked.

"I don't know, I just have this gut feeling that I need to check out her house again." Sally replied.

"Do you want me to go with you this time?" Saul asked, hopefully.

"Thank you, Saul, but I need you to work on cracking that code Aunt Sally keeps clicking out." Sally said.

"Will do." Saul said, although he seemed disappointed.

"Can you also screenshot all the frames in the video and send them to me so I can analyze them?" Coco asked.

"Sure." Saul said.

"Great, well, I better get back to work." Coco said.

"We'll see you at home." Sally said.

Coco noticed that Shirley had gone back to staring off into space. "Don't worry, Grams, we'll find her." She said, hugging her.

Shirley smiled, but her eyes still looked worried.

Everyone except for Shirley was feeling more hopeful. They were one step closer to figuring out who was behind this. One step closer to finding Aunt Sally. Shirley wished she could feel the same way, but she knew the truth. There was only one way to help her sister, and she was the only one who could do it, but it was the one thing she wasn't willing to do.


	11. Chapter 11

_A/N- Well, here we are at chapter 11! I know there's a lot going on in this chapter, but I think ya'll will like it. I hope so anyway! LOL I don't really have any other notes, other than please excuse any typos. I try to double check for any mistakes that spellcheck might have missed, but it's 4 am and my brain tends to shut down at 3, so if I missed something, oh well. So anyway let's get on with the chapter!_

B&B

Coco lay on her bed, drawing in her sketchbook. She had analyzed every frame that Saul had sent her, but the only significant thing she could find was the camera angle and the corner of a basement window. She'd tried to zoom in on it, but that only made it blurry, so she'd given up and decided to work on some sketches.

She looked up when Sally walked in. "I guess Grams isn't cooking dinner today since she's asleep." Sally complained.

"I ate some leftover chicken and rice, there should be enough left for you." Coco said, closing her sketchbook and laying it on the floor next to her bed.

"Do you think I should leave some for Grams?" Sally asked.

"I don't know if she's even planning on getting up; when we got home, she went straight to bed without saying anything." Coco said.

"I really can't wait for all of this to be over, I hate seeing her like this." Sally said, reaching under her bed and pulling out a bag of jumbo marshmallows. She tossed one to Coco.

"So, did you learn anything from following Gladys this time?" Coco asked, squishing the marshmallow in her hand until it was sticky and tossing it up at the ceiling, where it got stuck.

"Nothing, except that she planted violets around the edges of her house." Sally said, doing the same thing with another marshmallow.

"Did you happen to notice a basement window?" Coco asked, after catching her marshmallow in her mouth and eating it.

"I think so, but there was the weirdest butterfly decoration I've ever seen standing in front of it, so I couldn't be sure." Sally said, attempting to catch her marshmallow, but it landed on the bed next to her.

"I was analyzing the pictures Saul sent me and I noticed the corner of a window in the background, but it was way too blurry to see anything outside of it." Coco said, as they both threw another marshmallow at the ceiling.

Sally groaned when her's got stuck right above Coco's bed. "That's going to be a pain to catch." She complained, stretching across the space between their beds so that her head was on Coco's bed and her feet were on hers.

"Not fair, it's on my side." Coco said.

"Since when does it matter where the marshmallow is? You're still going to be doing my chores for the rest of the week." Sally said, catching both marshmallows in her mouth and eating them.

"Cheater!" Coco teased, grabbing a pillow and swinging it at Sally.

Sally managed to avoid getting hit by the pillow, but she lost her balance and ended up on the floor between the two beds.

They both cracked up.

They were so focused on their game that they didn't notice that Shirley had peeked in to check on them and had been watching them for a while.

She recognized the game they were playing. Shirley herself had invented the game with her sister when they were twelve. She smiled at the memory of the time a marshmallow had gotten stuck in Sally's hair and they had used olive oil to get it out before their mother could see it.

Shirley figured she might as well call it a night, so she went back to her room and lay down on her bed, staring at the picture of her sister on her nightstand.

She focused on the picture and tried to tap into her twin telepathy.

Twin telepathy did exist, but it wasn't anything like what one would see on TV or in a movie. They couldn't read each other's mind or feel each other's pain. They couldn't talk to each other telepathically, although they did have a secret language. The only thing they could do was get certain vibes from each other that neither of them could describe, but they knew what it meant.

Right now, the vibe Shirley was getting told her that Sally was awake, but exhausted. She could also feel that Sally knew that she was accessing their psychic connection and was trying to close her out.

Suddenly, Shirley felt a strong desire to give up on everything and tell her granddaughters the real reason why she had come to LA with them.

She dropped her telepathic connection and glared at the picture of her sister.

"That's what you want, isn't it? You can't stand the fact that I can be successful too. You've always been seen as the better twin and you don't want me to steal your spotlight, do you?" She growled at the picture.

She turned her back to the picture and sighed. Even though she really didn't want to give up on her plan, she knew, deep down, that she would have to. It was the only way to help her sister and she didn't know how much longer she could hold out with everything that was going on.

Shirley struggled for a while before falling into an uneasy sleep.

The next day, at lunchtime, the Spectras and Saul were sitting in the office, crowded around the laptop while they waited for Darlita to bring them their ramen.

"I absolutely couldn't crack that code; I copied it down every way I could think of and put it through ever cipher I could find, but it kept coming up gibberish." Saul was telling them. He was clearly getting frustrated.

Shirley started playing with her hair.

"Maybe this video will help us figure it out without having to crack the code." Sally suggested.

"Maybe it will; while I was analyzing the frames from all of the videos, I noticed that the camera angle seems to shift a little in each video, and last night I saw the corner of a basement window; if they keep up with that pattern, then we should be able to see more of the window and it may give us a clue as to where they are." Coco said.

"Coco, you are a genius; we're buying you dinner after all of this is over." Sally said.

Coco smiled.

Everyone turned their attention to the laptop as Sally clicked the latest video.

Aunt Sally was, once again, curled up on the mattress. She looked absolutely exhausted.

She lifted her head and made her clicking noises before collapsing back onto the mattress.

"She needs her medicine." The distorted voice behind the camera said.

The same man as before appeared in the frame and poured a bottle of Trazodone all over Aunt Sally before the video ended.

"Do you think they've been feeding her those pills the whole time?" Saul asked.

"Probably, she seems more and more sedated in each video, my guess is that they want to keep her sedated so she can't fight back." Coco said.

"But if they keep sedating her like that, they'll kill her!" Shirley exclaimed, suddenly realizing that her sister may be in more danger than she'd originally thought.

"Not if we can get to Gladys's house before it's too late." Sally said.

"What are you talking about?" Shirley asked, turning to Sally.

Sally backed up the video to the beginning and paused it. "Coco, you were right, we can see more of the window, and there's the weird butterfly decoration I told you about last night." She said, pointing to the window in the video.

"Are you sure?" Coco asked.

"I'm positive; we need to get to Gladys's house and do something." Sally said.

"Wait, we need to talk about this." Saul said.

"What is there to talk about, Saul, this psychopath has my aunt!" Sally exclaimed.

"I always knew she was crazy, she's probably doing this because she doesn't like Grams." Coco said.

"Well, what about the code; what if she's telling us that they're going to kill whoever comes to save her or something?" Saul asked.

"She isn't." Shirley said, getting up and walking over to stare out the window.

"Grams, how do you know that?" Coco asked nervously.

Shirley didn't speak.

"Grams, if you know something, you need to tell us." Sally said.

Shirley sighed. "She's using our secret language, the one we always used when we didn't want anyone to know what we were talking about."

"And what is she saying?" Saul asked.

Shirley turned around to face them. "She's saying ' _You can stop this by stopping yourself'_ "

"But what does that mean?" Sally asked.

"It means that I can stop what my sister is going through by stopping myself from using my granddaughters for my own selfish gain." Shirley said.

"What are you talking about, Grams?" Coco asked coldly.

Shirley's eyes filled with tears and she looked down at the floor. She couldn't look at them anymore. "All my life, I've lived in my sister's shadow; she's always been the more popular twin; she made better grades in school, she had more friends, and everything I did, every accomplishment, was overshadowed by her; and then, when she moved to LA and became a fashion legend, I had to watch the whole world pay attention to her; no one cared about me and my successful bakery, all they cared about was the fact that my sister was in the spotlight."

When Sally and Coco remained silent, Shirley continued. "She did make one fatal mistake, though, she always took the blame for stealing designs, but I wanted to do it without ruining my reputation."

She looked up to meet Sally's eyes. "So, when you expressed an interest in reviving this company, I saw my chance to finally be better than my sister, so I invested in you; and then, when that review was published, I knew it was time to put my plan into action, so I verbally beat you down until you had no confidence in your ability to be a legit designer."

Then, she turned to Coco. "And because I did this to her, she believed there was no other way to save the company, so she agreed to put cameras in your jewelry and use you to steal from Forrester." She finished.

"Grams, how could you?" Sally asked, hurt.

"Sally, you have to understand, I didn't mean for it to go this far; I didn't think anyone would find out and I certainly didn't think anyone would hurt my sister because of it." Shirley sobbed.

"I am beyond pissed at you, at both of you, for using me to steal designs, but we need to find Aunt Sally." Coco said.

"And when we do find her, we're going to tell her everything and let her decide what to do with you." Sally growled at Shirley.

The girls turned and left the room, leaving Shirley to collapse into Sally's chair, sobbing heavily.

"I think I'd better go help them." Saul said, feeling awkward being alone with a crying woman. He got into the elevator with Sally and Coco.

When they got to the first floor, they stepped out of the elevator and stopped in their tracks, staring in awestruck silence at the woman who met them at the front entrance.


	12. Chapter 12

_A/N- So this is the big reveal! LOL This is what I had planned all along, so please try not to hate me too much! There is also one more chapter coming up, even if I lose readers for this one. And to the guest reviewer who said they love the marshmallow game, thank you so much for your review, you're awesome, and that game actually comes from my own childhood, my sister and I invented it when we were grounded for skipping school, so I'm glad someone doesn't think it's lame! LOL Anyway, I really hope ya'll enjoy the chapter and please don't come after me with torches and pitchforks! LOL_

B&B

After recovering from their momentary state of shock, Sally and Coco sprinted toward the woman and hugged her, burying their faces in her very big and very red hair.

"You're...you're Sally Spectra...THE Sally Spectra." Saul stammered.

"I sure hope so, that's the name on my driver's license." Aunt Sally said, smiling.

"But, I don't understand, you're ok." Saul said, confused.

"I am, I always was." Aunt Sally replied.

"Aunt Sally, you have to do something about Grams, she's on some sort of power trip." Sally said.

"She put cameras on me and forced me to steal from Forrester." Coco said.

"She's making us do her dirty work to protect her reputation." Sally said.

"I know." Aunt Sally said.

"Wait, how do you know?" Sally asked.

"Come on, it will all make sense shortly." Aunt Sally said, gently pushing the girls toward the elevator.

"Do we _have_ to go back in there?" Coco asked.

"Yes, you do; you too, Saul, come on." Aunt Sally said, reaching out and pulling Saul into the elevator with them.

"You know my name?" Saul asked. He was still a little awestruck by her.

"Of course I know your name, you look just like your grandfather." Aunt Sally said.

""My grandfather told me so much about you, I never thought I'd get to meet you in person." Saul said excitedly.

"Hey, Saul, maybe you should tone it down with the fanboy act." Sally teased.

"It's ok, his grandfather use to practically bow down to me." Aunt Sally said with a laugh.

When they stepped out of the elevator and got to the office, they found Shirley still crying at the desk and Darlita standing a couple of feet away, staring awkwardly at her.

Darlita looked shocked and excited when she noticed them, but Aunt Sally put a finger to her lips, silencing her before she could speak. Then, she quietly walked over to Shirley and lay a hand on her shoulder.

When Shirley caught a whiff of her sister's sugary sweet perfume, she stopped crying and looked up. "Sally?"

"Thanks for saving me, sis." Aunt Sally said, sarcastically.

"I don't understand, you were kidnapped, what are you doing here?" Shirley asked, confused.

"Actually, I never was kidnapped, I just made you think I was." Aunt Sally said.

Just then, Gladys and Clarke rushed into the room.

"Sorry we're late." Gladys said.

"You were supposed to be right behind me, what happened?" Aunt Sally asked.

"You were driving way too fast." Clarke said.

"If you had let me drive, we would have kept up." Gladys teased.

"I'm not trying to die in a car crash today." Clarke shot back.

"Could someone please explain what's going on; why did you trick me?" Shirley asked.

"Well, I had three reasons, one being that I was bored." Aunt Sally said.

"That's a pretty messed up way to entertain yourself." Shirley said.

"And also, to teach you a lesson; you used these girls for your own selfish gain, you destroyed Sally's self esteem and almost ruined Coco's future in the rag trade; you hurt two family members and you know that's the worst thing you can do in this family." Aunt Sally said, glaring at Shirley.

Suddenly, the full weight of what she had done hit Shirley like a ton of bricks and she broke down. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." She sobbed.

"I know you are." Aunt Sally snapped.

"What was the third reason?" Sally asked.

Aunt Sally smiled. "Publicity, if that's ok with you."

"But, how?" Sally asked.

"We put a hidden camera in the scanner, everything that happened in this office was recorded." Clarke explained

"We thought we would corner the ARG fanbase and drive more traffic to your website." Gladys added.

"Wait, _everything_ was recorded?" Coco asked, nervously.

"Don't worry, we'll edit out the parts about the jewelry cameras, no one saw what they picked up except for us." Aunt Sally said.

Coco looked only slightly relieved.

"So you're saying we could create an ARG to promote Spectra Fashions?" Saul asked excitedly.

"That's up to her." Aunt Sally said.

"Are you kidding; that's a genius idea, but why didn't you let me in on it?" Sally asked.

"I would have, darling, but we needed your reactions to be genuine, I hope I didn't scare you too much." Aunt Sally said.

"It's ok, I like being scared, it was awesome!" Sally exclaimed, hugging her aunt.

"I knew you would think so, you get that from me." Aunt Sally said, smiling.

"I'm actually surprised you didn't figure it out, I even borrowed her perfume and sprayed it all over the room, hoping you would pick up on it." Gladys said to Sally.

"No, she jacked my perfume without asking." Aunt Sally said with a laugh.

Sally laughed. "You guys _have_ to tell us how you did all of this."

"Well, I was the one who took the pictures and 'kidnapped' her; I was also the guy in the videos; the pills were just candy, by the way." Clarke said.

"And I hacked your laptop and sent all the creepy pictures and videos; I was also the distorted voice and I made the white stuff in the bowl; it was supposed to be homemade frosting, but I put too much milk in it." Gladys said.

"It was nasty." Aunt Sally said.

"You actually had to eat it?" Darlita asked.

"Yes and I kept gagging; and the one time I didn't gag, Gladys hit her head on the cabinet." Aunt Sally explained.

"So that's what happened behind the camera in the feeding video." Coco said.

"Yes, we had to keep that take because I was _not_ about to film that scene again." Aunt Sally said.

"I notice you don't have any injuries now, whoever did the makeup for that did a great job, those bruises looked real." Sally said.

"I know, right!" Gladys said, laughing her trademark laugh.

"That's why she's my best friend; everything except for the burns was done by her, the burns were real, but they healed up months ago, it was just luck that I didn't delete that picture." Aunt Sally explained, lifting her sleeve to reveal a few faint scars.

"What about all the weird things that happened to me?" Shirley asked.

'I did that, I have a copy of the key to the apartment, so I snuck in and put gold flakes in your face cream." Gladys said.

"I'm allergic to gold." Shirley said.

"I know, your sister told me." Gladys said.

"But what about the things that happened in the building?" Shirley asked.

"That was me too, the air vents in this place are pretty roomy, I was able to climb around in them and cut the hooks on the poster and logo when no one was around, after that, all I had to do was get behind the wall and give it a kick." Gladys explained.

"So who _was_ phone?" Coco asked.

Everyone except for Shirley laughed. She didn't think she would ever understand that joke.

"In this case, I was." Clarke said.

"I guess you'll be wanting that key." Gladys said to Sally.

"Keep it, we could use someone else to help Coco when she forgets her key." Sally replied.

Coco smiled sheepishly.

"I'd be happy to, your aunt was always locking herself out when she lived there." Gladys said.

Aunt Sally rolled her eyes, but she was smiling too.

"Do you want us to take the camera out?" Clarke asked.

"Yeah, but don't get rid of it; if this ARG is successful, we could use it to make more." Sally said.

"Well, publicity is great, but what are we going to do for designs since stealing from Forrester isn't an option?" Shirley asked.

"Either you steal the designs yourself without using my nieces or you find a legit designer." Aunt Sally said, her deep voice dripping with venom.

"But my designs were a flop." Sally said.

"Darling, I love you, but you inherited my design talent." Aunt Sally said.

"Or, lack thereof." Clarke said, coughing to cover it up.

"Strike one, Bucky." Aunt Sally said, playfully glaring at Clarke.

"Anyway, we saw some of Coco's designs when we took over the camera feed." Clarke explained.

"You've been designing?" Sally asked Coco.

"Oh, my designs aren't that good, I was just drawing." Coco said, blushing.

"Show me." Sally said.

Coco got her sketchbook out of her bag and reluctantly handed it to Sally, who looked through the drawings.

"Coco, these are great, I had no idea you could design like this!" Sally exclaimed, beaming with pride for her sister.

"Do you really think so?" Coco asked.

"Of course, how would you like to design for us?" Sally asked.

"I would love to!" Coco exclaimed, hugging her sister. It was clear that she wasn't mad at her anymore.

"Well, I guess I'll be going back home, if I even still have a home to go to." Shirley said, staring at the floor.

"What do you think I should do with her, Aunt Sally?" Sally asked.

"That's up to you, but I do advise that she not be involved in any future decisions made for the company." Aunt Sally said.

Sally thought about it for a second. "Well, Grams, what you did was very serious, you can no longer be in any position of authority in this company, but I think I might have a place for you."

Shirley looked up, grateful that she wasn't being disowned by her family. "Alright, what's my new job?"

"Well, I am tired of eating ramen every day, no offense, Darlita." Sally said.

"None taken." Darlita said.

"Anyway, the break room does have a kitchen and we could really use your cooking skills." Sally said.

"You want me to cook for everyone?" Shirley asked.

"Only if you want to continue to be a part of this family." Sally said.

"That's fair, but can we get rid of the pink walls in the kitchen?" Shirley asked.

"You can paint it whatever color you want, pending Aunt Sally's approval." Sally said.

"What about electric lime?" Shirley asked her sister.

"No." Aunt Sally said.

"Midnight blue?" Shirley asked.

"Even worse." Aunt Sally said.

"Light teal?" Shirley asked.

"I can live with that." Aunt Sally said.

Clarke's phone beeped and he checked it. "Guys, I just got a text from CJ, he's about two minutes away."

"Great, come on everyone, let's meet him in the parking lot!" Aunt Sally said, excitedly.

Everyone piled into the elevator.

"Why are we meeting CJ?" Sally asked.

"You'll see." Aunt Sally replied.

When they got to the first floor, they stepped out of the elevator and went out to the parking lot, just as CJ was pulling in.

CJ leaned out the window to wave at them, giving Sally a huge smile, and bumping into the back fender of Aunt Sally's car. He backed up and parked his car, getting out to check on his front fender.

"Damn, son!" Aunt Sally snapped.

"Just so we're clear, his mother taught him to drive, not me." Clarke said.

"That's strike two." Aunt Sally said, before going to survey the damage to her car.

"What happens at strike three?" Coco asked Clarke as soon as Aunt Sally was out of earshot.

"She doesn't know." Clarke replied.

Aunt Sally and CJ rejoined the group after deciding that the damage wasn't that bad. They had both crashed their cars multiple times anyway, so another dent didn't make much of a difference.

"Sally, we have something to give you." CJ said, producing some paperwork and handing it to Sally, smiling.

Sally looked at it. It was the deed to the building.

"I paid CJ double what Bill Spencer was offering and forged your signature on the bill of sales, the building is in your name now." Aunt Sally explained.

Sally was choked up with emotion. Her aunt had just fixed the one thing that had been stressing her out the most. "I...I don't know what to say...Aunt Sally, you're the best aunt ever!" She exclaimed with tears in her eyes.

"Don't you dare cry or you'll get me started." Aunt Sally said, hugging her.

Later, everyone was in the office celebrating.

CJ was entertaining Coco and Darlita by juggling pigs in blanket. They laughed when he caught them all in his mouth and ate them. They laughed harder when he almost choked.

Sally was sitting behind the desk with her aunt, who was telling her all about her travels as well as passing down some lessons she'd learned during her time in the fashion industry.

Shirley and Gladys were sitting on the table by the door, talking. Gladys had a tablet and was showing her some outtakes from the videos. It was obvious that they no longer hated each other.

Saul and Clarke were by the window, chatting.

"So, why didn't she just give Sally the building in the first place?" Saul asked.

"Spectra logic." Clarke explained.

"I don't understand." Saul said.

"You will if you hang around them long enough; they're all a little strange, but don't let that scare you away, they're good people." Clarke said.

They continued to chat until Sally and Aunt Sally walked over to them.

"Bucky, I need your help with something on the other side of the room." Aunt Sally said, as she pushed Sally toward Saul.

She led Clarke away, leaving Sally and Saul alone.

"Did your grandfather ever tell you how crazy she is?" Sally asked.

"Yeah, but crazy doesn't scare me." Saul said, smiling.

They both laughed.

"So, I was wondering if you'd like to hang out sometime, I mean, outside of work?" Sally asked.

"Won't Thomas get mad about that?" Saul asked. He was trying to play it cool, but inside he was tap dancing.

"Thanks to a little advice from my aunt, I've come to my senses about him." Sally replied.

Saul smiled and Sally smiled back.

"Well, guys, we should probably go; my hair has waited long enough for the deep conditioning I promised her." Aunt Sally said.

"I can't wait to take care of Big Red again!" Gladys said, hopping off of the table and running her fingers through Aunt Sally's hair. "She does look like she could use a little TLC."

"The tropical air did horrible things to her." Aunt Sally said.

The two of them, as well as Clarke and CJ, walked out of the room with everyone else following them.

While they were waiting for the elevator, everyone said their goodbyes.

"We have to hang out again sometime." Shirley said to Gladys as they hugged.

"Text me, maybe we can all get together for coffee or something." Gladys said.

"You two not hating each other is going to take some getting use to." Aunt Sally said with a laugh.

Shirley smiled at her sister. "Thank you, Sally, for showing me what's really important."

"Just make sure you don't forget." Aunt Sally warned her.

They hugged.

Saul shook hands with both CJ and Clarke. "You guys have a safe trip home."

"And don't be strangers, just because we don't have to pay you rent anymore doesn't mean you can't come back for a visit." Sally added, hugging them both.

CJ turned to Darlita, who smiled and waved goodbye to him. He smiled and waved back.

When the elevator opened, Clarke, CJ, and Gladys got in, but Shirley grabbed Aunt Sally's hand. Clarke held the elevator door open so it wouldn't leave without her.

"Sally, how long are you going to be in LA?" She asked.

"I don't know yet, I guess I'll be here until I decide to leave again." Aunt Sally replied.

"Well, where are you staying?" Shirley asked.

"Right now, I'm in a nice hotel." Aunt Sally said.

"Why don't you stay with us; it would be nice to have the family back together for however long you want to stay." Shirley said. She desperately wanted to show her sister and everyone else that she had learned her lesson and that she was very sorry for what she'd done to the girls.

"Yeah, stay with us, Aunt Sally!" Sally begged.

"Stay with us forever!" Coco pleaded.

"Forever would be nice, I'll even let you have your old room." Shirley said.

"Well, when you put it that way, how can I say no?" Aunt Sally said.

They all hugged before Aunt Sally left with the others.

Once they were gone, Sally turned to the others. "Well, guys, we've got more celebrating to do; Spectra will never die!"

Everyone cheered and they all went back to celebrating.


	13. Epilogue

_A/N- So, here's the last chapter! I'm sorry it's such a short chapter, but it's really meant to be an epilogue. Like a "where are they now?" kind of thing. Also, sorry it took so long, I kind of went through a lot recently, so I've been too busy to write. Anyway, thank you to AnnMagda for your awesome reviews to this story, you're awesome! And to everyone who read the story, but didn't review, you're awesome too and the same goes for everyone who reads and reviews or reads and doesn't review in the future. You're all awesome! So, let's get on with the epilogue!_

B&B

It had been a year since Spectra Fashions had made a comeback. The new generation had brought the comapny into the twenty-first century with a very successful ARG and was in the process of creating another one to promote the next season's collection.

Sally and Saul had hung out a week after Sally had become the owner of the building and they had really hit it off. There were things she could tell Saul that Thomas would have never understood or cared about. The two of them had slowly developed a relationship and Sally couldn't be happier.

Coco, under Clarke's direction, had sharpened her design skills and was now the head designer at Spectra Fashions. Her designs had taken the company further than Sally's ever could. She had even broken up with RJ and had chosen to focus on her place in her family's company instead. It was really working out for her.

Sally had hired CJ as an accountant due to his remarkable money management skills. He was a wonderful asset to the company and had even developed a relationship with Darlita.

Both Clarke and Aunt Sally had refused to come out of retirement. Clarke had moved back to LA and visited them often. Aunt Sally still lived with them and had recently quit smoking, following a major health crisis. They were both doing well, but neither of them wanted to return to the spotlight and the younger generation wasn't going to force them to. They were content to help the company behind the scenes, with Clarke advising Coco and Aunt Sally supporting and encouraging Sally.

Shirley's personality had completely changed. She actually seemed happier that she was no longer involved with the running of the company. When she was in the kitchen, she seemed so relaxed that no one dared bother her. She never forgot the lesson she'd learned and she made sure everyone knew that she was sorry for what she'd done. She now encouraged and supported her granddaughters instead of using them. She had become close friends with Gladys after learning that the retired hairdresser had never hated her and had actually thought Shirley didn't like _her._ She even made an effort to get along with her sister, although they still had their disagreements, which had become a source of entertainment for everyone.

Things were looking good for Spectra Fashions. The company was quickly surpassing Forrester in terms of success and they were looking forward to another great year. It was safe to say that this fashion house would always have Spectras in it.


End file.
